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Pope Benedict XVI – on June 29, 2012 – will impose the pallium on the Archbishop-Elect of the Lagos Ecclesiastical See, Most Rev Alfred Adewale Martins of Lagos, Nigeria. This investiture of the pallium is traditionally held in the Vatican on June 29, the Solemnity of Ss Peter and Paul. It would be recalled that on 25th May this year, the Holy Father accepted the resignation of Anthony Cardinal Okogie as Archbishop of Lagos and also appointed Bishop Alfred Martins as the Archbishop-Elect of Lagos.

The pallium is an ecclesiastical vestment in the Roman Catholic Church which is usually bestowed by the Pope on Metropolitan Archbishops and Primates as a symbol of the jurisdiction delegated to them by the Holy See. It also serves as a visible expression of the communion between Metropolitan Bishops and the Bishop of Rome.

The Pontiff imposes the pallium on an Archbishop in 2009.

This year a slight modification has been made in the order of the rite. A release by the Holy See Press Office states that although things will remain substantially unaltered, however “this year, following a logic of development in continuity, it has been decided simply to move the rite itself, and it will now take place before the Eucharistic celebration.”

Other reasons given for the slight modification is as follows:

“1. To make the rite shorter. The list of new metropolitan archbishops will be read out immediately before the entry of the opening procession and the singing of ‘Tu es Petrus’, and it will not be part of the celebration. The rite of the palliums will take place as soon as the Holy Father reaches the altar.

“2. To ensure that the Eucharistic celebration is not ‘interrupted’ by a relatively long rite (the number of metropolitan archbishops now stands at around forty-five each year), which could make attentive and focused participation in the Mass more difficult.

“3. To make the rite of imposing the pallium more in keeping with the ‘Cerimoniale Episcoporum‘, and to avoid the possibility that, by coming after the homily (as happened in the past), it may be thought of as a Sacramental rite. Indeed, the rites which take place during a Eucharistic celebration following the homily are normally Sacramental rites: Baptism, Confirmation, Ordination, Matrimony, Anointing of the Sick. The imposition of the pallium, on the other hand, is not Sacramental in nature”.

The full list of the Metropolitan Bishops who will be invested with the pallium are: